They took the day off from school. They held a homemade banner. And when the elder Jordan finally stepped off the guided-missile cruiser Mobile Bay, the younger Leon lept into his arms and broke down in tears.

“I’m really happy,” Leon III, 16, said shortly before seeing his father. “It’s 10 times better” having him home.

Monday marked an emotional reunion for hundreds of families at two of the region’s Naval bases. At around the same time the Mobile Bay returned to Naval Base San Diego from an eight-month deployment to the Middle East and Pacific areas of responsibility, two helicopter squadrons came home to Naval Air Station North Island in Coronado.

Return of the Mobile Bay

All were part of the John C. Stennis Strike Group, which has been away since September. Aside from the Mobile Bay, Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 8 and Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron 71, the aircraft carrier John C. Stennis is also making a brief stopover at North Island before it heads back to its home port in Bremerton, Wash.

At Naval Base San Diego, the Mobile Bay’s crew of 351 sailors were greeted by friends and family members, who shouted, cheered, laughed and cried upon seeing their loved ones.

The Mobile Bay spent five months in the Middle East in the North Arabian Sea and Persian Gulf supporting Operation Enduring Freedom and doing maritime security operations and theater security cooperation with allies and partner nations, said Capt. Tim Kott, the ship’s commanding officer.

Helicopter squadrons return

The other three months was spent in transit and on a diplomatic mission to the Pacific, Kott said.

Of the 351 men and woman aboard the Mobile Bay, 150 have been on deployment 15 of the last 21 months. The ship deployed at the end of last summer after having been back in port for just five months, Kott said.

“The crew performed remarkably,” Kott said. “A fantastic group of young people who did everything asked of them. They got ready quickly, deployed and executed all the missions that were asked of them.”

One crew member, Leon Jordan Jr., got a hero’s welcome from five family members when he stepped off the ship: His wife, son, nephew, brother and father-in-law were all there to greet him.

“He’s like a second dad, pretty much,” said Grant, 17, a senior at Mt. Miguel High School. “He’s like my idol. I look up to him.”